LED build for the 300

mike_dani · Dec 20, 2011

Well, the tank is almost dry and the LEDs are being built. After almost a year of planning building re-building and building some other custom fixtures the time has come to my fixture for the 300. Here are a few pictures of what I am building, the specs are as follows72 premium royal blues36 blue48cool whites 36 neutral whites12 green24 violetsI am running 9 mean well ELN-60-48D drivers with the royal blues on one dimmer the blues on one dimmer the cool whites on one dimmer the neutral whites on one dimmer and the green and violets on one dimmer. Wow that's a bunch of color options LOL.I will have 12 moon lights that will follow the lunar table driven off of my Apex controller and the LEDs will run off of the sun table. Hope you enjoy

H@rry · Dec 20, 2011

Now that is interesting. I'd like to take a look at that. I'm particularly interested in your selection of aluminum stock for mounting. Lookin' very good! :haha:

markie mark · Dec 20, 2011

Looking good bro...I'm just as excited as you are to see them lighting up the 300..

pickupman66 · Dec 20, 2011

LOL! you got her to help solder them up!?!?!?! Melanie just looks at mine and says "pretty" and "I hope its worth it". btw. looking forward to getting mine finished Friday.

Tomoko Schum · Dec 20, 2011

I am still interested in getting one built for my tank

Kbra · Dec 20, 2011

Will there still be enough heat transfer with the limited metal? Aluminum has almost 250x the thermal conductivity of air...

mike_dani · Dec 20, 2011

Tomoko Schum said:
I am still interested in getting one built for my tank

I sent you a price back in???? You never got back with me, would you like for me to send it again? PM me your email, I think this PM thing between us has been a sore subject.:xd:

Tomoko Schum · Dec 20, 2011

I did not receive any price. Please send it again. I will PM you my email address right now. In case my PM does not get to you, it's just my name in lower case without a space at knology.net.

mike_dani · Dec 20, 2011

I have been playing with this extrusion for many months almost 12, there is more metal mass per inch then any other heat sink available. The max temps I have ever seen is 132 degrees using this material and working for a major aerospace manufacturer I might of had some thermal dynamics analysis done but really cant confirm that..:crossedlips:.... LOL

Here is a picture of the profile

mike_dani · Dec 20, 2011

Well I now have 1/4 of the build complete, I have 4 bars that will span the length of the tank with 2 drivers running 48 LEDs all LEDs have a PLED shunt installed in parallel to the LED, this way if one LED blows then the rest will stay lit and will also use the same current as each LED. I have tuned both drivers and the LEDs are shinning like WOW. Here are a couple of pics.

Whites on, I had to add 6 blues to each white section to balance the load

Blues on

All on picture one

All on picture two

Junction temp after running full brightness for two hours

with those temps I have nothing to worry about, my plan is to run them at 10V DC for 8 hours and graph the temps during the run period. I am certain the junction temps will be below 140 degrees F, if that is the case then I will call this one a success.

Kbra · Dec 21, 2011

Having heat analysis is some kind secret? Ok. Cool design though. I like it. GL

jason.tammy · Dec 21, 2011

Looks good man.Keep me in the loop on things.I still have that tank we talked about.It would be great for a build in unit.

Onedesign1 · Dec 21, 2011

nice build. without the "unconfirmable" thermal analysis its obvious to the eye that the auminum stock has plenty of surface area...which is what a traditional heatsink profile gives you. Given there are tons of build using only aluminum C-channel this one is a no brainer.

Love your color selection my only change would have been to double the greens and remove same amount of whites but its all tunable...I just love what the greens have done for my fixture color...specially during sunrise/set and the purple twightlight I get

Really appreciate how you thought through what you want to do and the end result. Too many builds out there without enough thought IMO.

Excellent work!

CJO · Dec 21, 2011

Looks like a nice build. I'm interested in seeing how this looks with all of those greens and violets. I do wonder, however, how well the star's heat is dissipated using the aluminum channel with groves in it. Also, how are you measuring the junction temperature with an infrared thermometer?

CJ

Yerboy · Dec 23, 2011

one of these days im gonna sneak out and come see whats going on. i still need that BRS stuff i just cant find a moment to get over to the shop.

jason.tammy · Dec 23, 2011

Tis the season to be overlly busy!!!!!!LOL

mike_dani · Dec 23, 2011

Yerboy said:
one of these days im gonna sneak out and come see whats going on. i still need that BRS stuff i just cant find a moment to get over to the shop.

Dude I have called like 5 times and no answer, nice to see your still kicking..... I have had some awesome Australian stuff come and go the last two weeks and have another Aussie and Indo shipment coming in on Wednesday and these purple hornets are getting huge. Feel free to cruise on over at your leisure and have a beer and look at the LEDs. OMG is all I can say.

Merry Christmas to all

Yerboy · Dec 24, 2011

i did see 1 missed call from a 306? number must be dani's as i never saved her number in my phone. my file fish ate all my hornets:sad:.... but thankfully all my aiptasia are gone to. :sure:.. did you say have a beer? i'll be over about 8am..

venom107 · Dec 25, 2011

Hey, looking good. I will give you a buzz this week. Think I will be working on my stand and canopy.

mike_dani · Dec 29, 2011

Its late and I have finished 3 of the 4 LED strips, I decided to go ahead and put them over the 300 and turn them on....... ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW......:bigsmile:

Pictures will come later.